Tag Archives: Nvidia

Connect Tech has announced the release of its new COM Express Type 7 + GPU Embedded System. This system combines Intel Xeon D (Server Class) x86 processors with high-end NVIDIA Quadro and Tesla GPUs, all in a small form factor embedded system. This V7G system is not a replacement to Connect Tech’s VXG Type 6 systems, but rather a next-generation platform that incorporates the new COM Express Type 7 PICMG standard and employs 10 Gbit Ethernet connectivity and expanded PCI Express interfaces.Embedded system developers can choose from highest-end, highest-performance models or from low-powered models all ideal for high-end encode/decode video applications or GPGPU CUDA processing, Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence applications. This embedded computer exposes all of the latest generation interconnect including: 10 Gbit Ethernet and Gbit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and 2.0, HDMI, SATA III, GPIO, I2C, M.2, Mini PCIe. The system uses PC-style connectors for ease of cabling and packaging.

AMD has announced the appointment of Mike Rayfield as senior vice president and general manager of AMD Radeon Technologies Group (RTG), and David Wang as senior vice president of engineering for RTG. Both will report to President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. Rayfield will be responsible for all aspects of strategy and business management for AMD’s graphics business including consumer graphics, professional graphics and semi-custom products. Wang will be responsible for all aspects of graphics engineering, including the technical strategy, architecture, hardware and software for AMD graphics products and technologies.

Rayfield brings to AMD more than 30 years of technology industry experience focused on growth, building deep customer relationships, and driving results. Rayfield joins AMD from Micron Technology, where he was senior vice president and general manager of the Mobile Business Unit. Under Rayfield’s leadership, Micron’s mobile business achieved significant revenue growth and improved profitability. Prior to Micron, Rayfield served as general manager of the Mobile Business Unit at Nvidia, where he led the team that created Tegra.

With more than 25 years of graphics and silicon development experience, Wang brings deep technical expertise and an excellent track record in managing complex silicon development to AMD. Wang rejoins AMD from Synaptics, where he was senior vice president of Systems Silicon Engineering responsible for silicon systems development of Synaptics products. Under Wang’s leadership, Synaptics more than quadrupled its design team through acquisition and organic growth. Prior to joining Synaptics, Wang was corporate vice president at AMD responsible for SoC development of AMD processor products, including GPUs, CPUs and APUs. Previously, Wang held various technical and management positions at ATI, ArtX, SGI, Axil Workstations and LSI Logic.

At the CES show last month, Mercedes-Benz its NVIDIA-powered MBUX infotainment system–a next-gen car cabin experience can learn and adapt to driver and passenger preferences, thanks to artificial intelligence.

According to NVIDIA, all the key MBUX systems are built together with NVIDIA, and they’re all powered by NVIDIA. The announcement comes a year after Huang joined Mercedes-Benz execs on stage at CES 2017 and said that their companies were collaborating on an AI car that would be ready in 2018.

Powered by NVIDIA graphics and deep learning technologies, the Mercedes-Benz User Experience, or MBUX, has been designed to deliver beautiful new 3D touch-screen displays. It can be controlled with a new voice-activated assistant that can be summoned with the phrase “Hey, Mercedes. It’s an intelligent learning system that adapts to the requirements of customers, remembering such details as the seat and steering wheel settings, lights and other comfort features.

The MBUX announcement highlights the importance of AI to next-generation infotainment systems inside the car, even as automakers are racing put AI to work to help vehicles navigate the world around them autonomously. The new infotainment system aims to use AI to adapt itself to drivers and passengers— automatically suggesting your favorite music for your drive home, or offering directions to a favorite restaurant at dinner time. It’s also one that will benefit from “over-the-air” updates delivering new features and capabilities.

Debuting in this month (February) in the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class, MBUX will power dramatic wide-screen displays that provide navigation, infotainment and other capabilities, touch-control buttons on the car’s steering wheel, as well as an intelligent assistant that can be summoned with a voice command. It’s an interface that can change its look to reflect the driver’s mood—whether they’re seeking serenity or excitement—and understand the way a user talks.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), a market research and consulting firm focused on graphics and multimedia offers its annual review of GPU developments for 2017. In spite of the slow decline of the PC market overall, PC-based GPU sales, which include workstations, have been increasing, according to the review. In the mobile market, integrated GPUs have risen at the same rate as mobile devices and the SoCs in them. The same is true for the console market where integrated graphics are in every console and they too have increased in sales over the year.

Nearly 28% of the world’s population bought a GPU device in 2017, and that’s in addition to the systems already in use. And yet, probably less than half of them even know what the term GPU stands for, or what it does. To them the technology is invisible, and that means it’s working—they don’t have to know about it.

The market for, and use of, GPUs stretches from supercomputers and medical devices to gaming machines, mobile devices, automobiles, and wearables. Just about everyone in the industrialized world has at least a half dozen products with one a GPU, and technophiles can easily count a dozen or more. The manufacturing of GPUs approaches science fiction with features that will move below 10 nm next year and have a glide-path to 3 nm, and some think even 1 nm—Moore’s law is far from dead, but is getting trickier to coax out of the genie’s bottle as we drive into subatomic realms that can only be modeled and not seen.

Over the past 12 months JPR has a seen a few new, and some clever adaptations of GPUs that show the path for future developments and subsequent applications. 2017 was an amazing year for GPU development driven by games, eSports, AI, crypto currency mining, and simulations. Autonomous vehicles started to become a reality, as did augmented reality. The over-hyped consumer-based PC VR market explosion didn’t happen, and had little to no impact on GPU developments or sales. Most of the participants in VR already had a high-end system and the HMD was just another display to them.

Mobile GPUs, exemplified by products from Qualcomm, ARM and Imagination Technologies are key to amazing devices with long battery life, screens at or approaching 4K, and in 2017 people started talking about and showing HDR.

JPR’s review says that many, if not all, the developments we will see in 2018 were started as early as 2015, and that three to four-year lead time will continue. Lead times could get longer as we learn how to deal with chips constructed with billions of transistor manufactured at feature sizes smaller than X-rays. Ironically, buying cycles are also accelerating ensuring strong competition as players try to leap-frog each other in innovation. According to JPR, we’ll see considerable innovation in 2018, with AI being the leading application that will permeate every sector of our lives.

The JPR GPU Developments in 2017 Report is free to all subscribers of JPR. Individual copies of the report can be purchased for $100.

Our workshop is over 6,500 square feet and we also have an office space.

What tools do you have in your space?

Electronics

PCB board design

Robotics

Soldering stations

Woodworking shop

Metalworking shop

Welding shop

Rapid Prototyping

Lab (CNC, Lastercutter, 3D Printers)

Brewery & Distillery

Jewelry

Datacenter

And many more…

Are there any tools your group really wants or needs?

Any PCB and pick/play stuff. Also some electronics supplies would be nice.

Does your group work with embedded tech like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, embedded security, or MCU-based designs?

We work with Arduino and Raspberry Pi a lot. Embedded stuff comes along quite often. For example we also work with Nvidia’s Jetson TK1 board, oDroid boards, and Parallella boards.

What are some of the projects your group has been working on?

We just did the Denver Mini Maker Faire. We also built a Tesla coil and we have about a dozen of other projects, which you can all find on our website.

What’s the craziest project your group or group members have completed?

For our craziest project so far I must say it was the 15 foot human-powered Ferris wheel. This was a great project!

What would you like to say to fellow hackers out there?

Come on down and BUILD something with us!

Want to know more about TinkerMill? Make sure to check out their website!

Show us your hackerspace! Tell us about your group! Where does your group design, hack, create, program, debug, and innovate? Do you work in a 20′ × 20′ space in an old warehouse? Do you share a small space in a university lab? Do you meet at a local coffee shop or bar? What sort of electronics projects do you work on? Submit your hackerspace and we might feature you on our website!